This invention relates an assembly utilized with tarpaulin coverings, for large articles such as, boats, automobiles, motorcycles, trailers, tents and the like. This is particularly applicable when such covered articles are stored outside in exposure to the elements, such as sun, wind, snow or rain and where protection of the equipment is desired.
Flexible sheets of water repellant material, commonly called tarpaulins, have been used for centuries to protect surfaces which are prone to weathering. A common use is to cover a boat which is not in use. Sometimes the boat will be covered for an entire season, such as the winter. Tarpaulins are also used to protect many other small vehicles, including automobiles, motorcycles, snowmobiles, lawn tractors, and so on. Sometimes tarpaulins are used in lieu of walls, such as for the walls of a flatbed truck or railroad car, or even a tent or small garage.
Tarpaulins are generally made of natural or synthetics fibers and can be rubberized,containing treated or untreated fibers and can be made waterproof by impregnating them with various water proofing agents such as silicones, as well as variety of natural or synthetic coatings. Typical of such coatings are acrylic or synthetic rubberized latices, vinyl or vinylidene polymers and copolymers. Tarpaulin materials are available with natural or synthetic fiber reinforcement fibers imbedded as a matrics within the Tarpaulin continuous phase, as a fiber reinforcing materials.
One problem with tarpaulins is that they may shrink from the effects of rain, wind and drying sun and therefore rip or tear at certain points of stress. In addition to weakness at stress points due to shrinkage, the effects of wind, water. weight, or snow weight may also cause tearing at stress points. Gentle but continuous movement caused by even light winds may wear away the surface of the tarpaulin at stress points, eventually causing tearing and ripping. This problem can be exacerbated by even slight irregularities in the ride or rub points, like metal or wooden seams, slight angles, or other small surface irregularities, including required devices like windshield wiper posts, and irregularities which might easily occur after manufacturing, such as nicks in the supporting framework, which cause slivers, or trap small pockets of moisture which freeze, creating small bumps which literally wear and tear the fabric of the tarpaulin.
A second problem with tarpaulins in that they can also cause wear to the object that they are supposed to protect, at the points where they xe2x80x9cridexe2x80x9d or rub. (Tarpaulins usually rest on appropriate supporting frame structure of the device being protected.) Since the rub point may be a chromed metal tube or a well varnished piece of mahogany or other expensive wood, this can be a very undesirable side effect. (The natural xe2x80x9cridesxe2x80x9d or rub points will vary from boat to boat or vehicle to vehicle. On a boat, the natural ride points could be thought as the top of the windshield and various pieces of metal fittings, usually tubing, which stand clear of the deck both fore and aft, such as the bow rail and the stern rail or stern cleats.)
A third problem with tarpaulins is that they when they are allowed to follow the natural contours of the extant ride or rub points of the object being protected, they can create a rather shallow angle of coverage which is sometimes insufficient to allow snow slippage or water drainage.
A fourth problem with tarpaulins is that they sometimes can not be tightened (or made taut) as tightly as possible because:
1) to do so could cause undue stress to the natural ride, or rub points.
2) the tarpaulin is slightly oversized due to stretching or to a xe2x80x9cone size fits allxe2x80x9d approach to manufacturing of the tarpaulin. (Inexact tailoring being cheaper to produce and purchase than specific tailoring.)
A fifth problem with tarpaulins is that they contain many metal fittings, such as metal grommets. These metal fittings may scratch the rub or ride points for a couple of reasons:
1) Unless a tarpaulin is exactly tailored to a specific boat or vehicle, these metal fittings may (by the chance of a poor fit) come in contact with ride or rub points after the tarpaulin is attached.
2) When the tarpaulin is used frequently, such as covering a boat on a daily basis, there is a very good chance that these metal fittings may slide across rub points when the tarpaulin is being attached or removed.
The present invention provides a assembly and a method of solving the problems outlined above. However before reviewing the details of the present invention, several related prior art patents were searched and will now be listed and briefly mentioned. The Applicant notes that they have reviewed the related art and do not find them to be relevant to the present invention.
Hulett U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,872 is patent for an anti-sagging xe2x80x9cSupport for boatcoverxe2x80x9d device. It addresses the tarpaulin sagging problem, which is vastly improved by the method of the present invention; however in a completely different way.
Devices for protective padding for covers or tarpaulins, particularly covers of fabric, appear to be nonexistent. A patent issued to William R. Van Loo. U.S. Pat. No. 3,634,925, granted on, Jan. 18, 1972, shows a method of assembling a padded arm rest. In this patent, a channel member is placed in a mold and covered with plastic foam such as polyurethane, vinyl or other suitable material. Metal flanges of the channel are bent to secure the padded arm rest permanently to the chair structure.
Additional patents considered are U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,277,742 to Crawford., Mills U.S. Pat. No. 3,192,542, Schmid II, U.S. Pat. No. 3,973,720, and Wichman. U.S. Pat. No. 4,143,653. However, none of these patented devices solve the problems described above and solved by the present invention.
The device of Crawford U.S. Pat. No. 2,277,742 for protecting canvas tents shows an elongated length of fabric which is adapted to overlie the top edge of a rafter which has attaching clips secured thereto and depending from the bottom face thereof, the clips having terminal portions configured to engage the bottom side edges of the rafter.
The Mills. U.S. Pat. No. 3,192,542 device is for a fabric cover for boats, which essentially comprises a flexible cover for the boat together with bending resilient fastener members secured to the body portion of the cover member at intervals along its edge and having portions thereof which extend across the outer surface of the boat""s gunwale guard and resiliently contact the underside of the guard.
The Schmid patent U.S. Pat. No. 3,973,720 is a protective cushioning pad having foldable sections for protecting the edges and corners of articles being packaged. The specific structure and arrangement of this device is substantially different from that of the present invention.
The Wichman patent U.S. Pat. No. 4,143,653 shows a device for splintering broken extremities and comprises a flexible strip having individual perpendicular projections along one edge together with a cushioning element. Again, this structure is entirely different from that of the present invention.
The Keithley patent U.S. Pat. No. 4.940.009 intends to provide the same function as the present invention is related to the present invention. However, the techniques is quite different. Some of the differences are: Keithley describes a series of small pads. The present invention can represent one contiguous cylinder. (Keithley describes a string of protective pads, but contiguous protection is impossible because of the shape of the Keithley pad.) A Keithley pad is in the shape of a (top view) oval cough drop with arms; a front view looks hemispherical with arms. The assembly of the present invention looks like a piece of thick foam tubing with about 20% cut out longitudinally as a very deep groove.
A Keithley pad is held in place by flexible arms, and in other embodiments the arms are supplemented by double-sided tape, adhesives, Velcro, magnets, or a semi-arcuate groove equal in depth to xc2xd the diameter of the tubing it rests on. The assembly of the present invention envelopes three sides of. the edge or three fourths of the surface area of the tubing it is protecting, and is held in place by friction. The friction is enhanced by the inner surface treatment of the assembly of the present invention, and by its contiguous naturexe2x80x94it is harder to push a 4 foot object along a tube than is to push a 4 inch object.
Keithley claims a specific manufacturing technique as part of his patent. Clay. et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,985,483, is for producing insulating foam tubes for pipes. The Assembly of the present invention is much less complex than the Keithley pad. It requires no bendable arms, Velcro, adhesive pads or other adhesives. In fact, although it expands and compresses, it really has no moving parts to break. No manufacturing variations are necessary to install the present assembly on odd shapes like boat cleats or odd angles, simply because the assembly of the present invention can be cut to length with a utility knife at any angle desired. Larger protrusions, like windshield wiper posts or tips can be accommodated by slightly hollowing out specific areas.
The present assembly permits less tarpaulin sagging than the Keithley pad because the many small pads equate to many bumps which allow sagging between them, while the contiguous nature of the Assembly of the present invention does not. The Assembly of the present invention also provides an alternative to anti-sagging devices like those in Hulett U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,872. The Assembly of the present invention always reduces sagging for stretched or oversized tarpaulins because it increases the diameter of the attachment points, thereby increasing total area to be covered by the tarpaulin.
The present invention, as noted above, represents an, assembly, a system and a method of protecting, boats, airplanes, trucks and equipment of all types,as well as roofs on buildings, garden equipment and recreational equipment, outdoor signs and all other constructions that employs or require tarpaulin coverings, for environmental protection
This protection, of both the protuberant surface to be protected and that of the surface of the tarpaulin itself. This protection is afforded by means of flexible protective assembly formed with a base member of bendable material in the shape of a long tube, with a soft, crushable inner surface, and a thin stiff smooth outer surface, is used as a xe2x80x9cbufferxe2x80x9d between the surface of such as a ship, boat, airplane or truck fittings (which are usually aluminum or light metal tubes) and tarpaulins.
The foam tube, or cylinder of the assembly, has a cutout forming a deep groove along one longitudinal side. The assembly is attached to the substrate to be protected, by forcing the deep groove in the tube on one side of the assembly, over the edge of the metal protuberant surface of the substrate to be protected. The foam tube can be any length which can be manufactured by current foam pipe extrusion techniques. The foam tube assembly can be held in place by friction, which is enhanced by the amount of foam tubing which actually comes in contact with the protected surface and by the natural or manufactured crushability feature of the interior surface. The contiguous length of the tubing also contributes to the friction fit.
Further modifications to keep the assembly in place include the use of an O ring clamp that fits over the edge or tube being protected and under the tubular tarpaulin cushioning tube, and an O-ring clamp that fits over the protective tube itself. Hook and ring techniques such as VELCRO(trademark) and pressure sensitive tape; can also be used to keep the assembly in place over the protuberant and the surface of the substrate being protected. Those experienced in the art will realize that the surface of any clamp, hook and ring, or tape technique must present a very smooth surface or be recessed in the exterior surface of the protective foam tube to prevent the creation of new wear points for the tarpaulin.